January Postmortum

I told myself I wasn't going to post anymore - there's enough to do around here; but I keep losing track of what I've worked on.

A lot's happened since the beginning of 2011 - our stove broke completely, turning into a fire hazard; so that lead to a week of microwave/toaster oven cooking, and an unexpected cost.

The winter CSA is always a challenge - rutabaga are only one of two vegetables I really don't enjoy, spaghetti squash being the other.  I'm not giving up on either, there's got to be a way to make them better.

I'm just going to list what I can remember cooking and fill in as I go.


Vegetarian Chili - 
Sweet Potato, collards, green spelt, red beans

Made with lots of dried chilis and Czech Rebel  beer - finished with cheddar under the broiler. Served with lime and sour cream.

The straw that broke the oven's back.

New Years Eve snacks
Lavash, Wine Cheese, Beer Cheese Puffs, Skordalia 

First time making crackers - used the recipe from Bread Bakers Apprentice - was pretty good.

Glazed Short Rib
Turnip Puree, collard greens, fried Shallots

This turned out pretty good - not a super heavy sauce, the fruitiness of the wine came through in a good way.

Pork Jowl Confit
Complete failure - fitting that this was the last thing I cooked in the oven.

Porkslap Mustard - 


Used mustard powder from Penzey's instead of ground seeds - and again - it was way to pungent.

Pancakes - lots of them

Spanish Tortilla
Potato and Onion

Made a couple of these in January, have to get better at flipping these things.  Not sure if I like them better than a frittata or not - just flatter really.

Cauliflower, Bacon Pizza
Caramelized Onions, Fresh Mozzarella,
Belgian Golden yeast

First meal fro the new stove - convection is a big success.   The top and bottom browned at the same rate, wasn't crackery.  Gretchen was skeptical of the white pizza here, but it was good.  Mozzarella was okay.

BBQ Beef Sandwich
Corn Bread Rolls
Slaw and Roast Cabbage Cauliflower salad

Kind of an asian BBQ/sloppy joe idea. Tasted really good, but the whole thing was kind of heavy.

Chickpea, Sweet Potato, Spinach Curry
Grilled Scallions

There was a week in there where we had curries all week - this one was more of a thai curry. 

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Coconut Curry sauce, Goat Sausage, Peas

Good idea - tasted good; first attempt at gnocchi - failure on those, although they weren't heavy, just inconsistent.

Roasted Carrot Ravioli
Lemon Butter Sauce

Roasted Carrot filling was good, lemon butter sauce was good (lots of fat) - pasta was sort of dense.


Beet and Carrot Latkes 
Too soggy - really needed more flower


Smoked Maple Brown Sugar Ham

Experienced some BBQ stall - but this tastes good.

Smoked Beet Sausage 

At a event at PS1 we had a beet sausage that Dan Barber made sausages and grilled them over carbonized pork bones.....while I can't grill them over those bones, I smoked them, but they didn't take too much smoke.  If I did this again I'd smoke the beets, and pack them in smaller casings.

Ham, Egg, and Beet Sausage
Grilled some ham steaks, served with a fried egg and a beet sausage.

Beet Sausage Sandwich w/ Pork Pate and Pickled Asparagus
Grilled Ham and Cheese on Sourdough
Turnip/Radish Chips, Duck Fat Corn

The beet sausage is really good when you can get a char on it - really good, when it doesn't have a good char, it's not.

Sourdough Boule
Stardard 16:9 flour water ratio, just wanted to give the new oven a shot.

Whole Wheat Pancakes -
Used the new skillet attachment on the oven, it's heavier than the double burner pan we had before.  Taking some getting used to.

Duck Stock -

Rendered Duck Fat - for confit


Carrot Muffins
 Winter share means way too many carrots- these weren't carrot cake like, it was lemony and spiced, not sure if I liked it.